Chris Hoke Injury: How Will It Impact Steelers’ D-Line?

Hoke is on the shelf with neck surgery and could be gone for good.

Long time vet and backup to Casey Hampton, Chris Hoke has been placed on the IR and will have season ending neck surgery. In what was described as a ‘stinger’ all they way back on October 16th, has now become a much more complicated injury that is leading to surgery. Seeing how badly a neck injury can be, a la Peyton Manning, some sources like the PPG are saying that Hoke’s career could be over.

Hoke is 35 years old, and an old body has a hard time healing.  Hoke has been a staple on the defense as a backup since 2002.  In 2004 he had significant time backing up Casey Hampton.  He’s always done a decent job at filling, though he is not the NT force that Hampton is/ was back in Hampton’s prime.  Steve McLendon has filled in at Hoke’s role as the primary back up.  So if Hampton goes down and there’s no Hoke – will the Steelers notice?

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